Lambda Legal Urges Appeals Court to Reverse Aberrant Lower Court Ruling and Strike Down Louisiana Marriage Ban

Lambda Legal today urged the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse last month’s U.S. District Court ruling upholding Louisiana’s discriminatory marriage ban.

Lambda Legal Senior Counsel Kenneth D. Upton, Jr said:

The lower court got it wrong. It ignored Supreme Court precedent and stands alone against the avalanche of recent rulings that have concluded these discriminatory marriage bans violate the Constitution. As recently as last week, the Supreme Court declined to review appellate court victories for same-sex couples in seven marriage cases out of the 4th, 7th and 10th Circuits striking down five bans similar to Louisiana’s. And, a day later, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down bans in Nevada and Idaho. In fact, there have been 46 decisions in federal and state courts in a little over a year holding that banning lesbian and gay couples from marrying violates the Constitution. One struggles to understand how this judge came to a different conclusion.

Lambda Legal and Louisiana co-counsel filed today’s brief in Robicheaux v. Caldwell, the consolidated appeal of U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman’s combined decision in three lawsuits filed in the past year: Robicheaux v. Caldwell, Robicheaux v. George and Forum For Equality Louisiana, Inc. v. Barfield. Judge Feldman issued his ruling upholding Louisiana’s discriminatory ban in early September. Lambda Legal joined the legal team in early October.

In its brief, Lambda Legal argues that the lower court defied the holding of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Windsor, which struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act as violating both the equal protection and due process guarantees.

Relying on dissents from Supreme Court and circuit court opinions, the court below got it wrong. In doing so, the lower court abdicated the federal judiciary’s essential role as guardian of all individuals’ constitutional rights, and licensed Louisiana to continue to perpetuate far-reaching harms inflicted on same-sex couples, and most especially their children, by the State’s discrimination against their families.

Read the press release.